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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">When Doubt Sets In</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Years ago I read something rather odd: "The reason mountain climbers are tied together is to keep the sane ones from going home." Whoever said that was playing with us a bit, for we know mountain climbers are tied together to keep from getting lost or going over a cliff. But there's another piece of truth here. When things get tough up on the mountain, when fear sets in, many a climber is tempted to say, "This is crazy! I'm going home."</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The life of faith can be like that--doubts set in, despair overwhelms us, and the whole notion of believing in God seems crazy. Jesus knew his disciples would have days like that. So he told them we're tied together like branches on the vine-or like climbers tied to the rope-tied together by the Spirit, to trust in one who is always more than we can understand, to keep us moving ahead on the journey of faith, to encourage us when believing seems absurd. "I will not leave you orphaned," said Jesus. "I am coming to you."<br>
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Barbara K. Lundblad, "I Will Not Leave You Orphaned" <br>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Always Alongside Us</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">A student named Steve Winger from Lubbock, TX was taking a challenging class in Logic. The course and teacher were known for exacting and demanding exams. The final exam was looming, and the professor mercifully told the class that each student would be permitted to bring in a single 8 x 11 ½ inch sheet with as much information as they could put on that one sheet for help during the test. On exam day, each student came to class clutching their precious pieces of paper with as much information as possible. Some students had crammed lines and lines of font so tiny and so numerous onto that single sheet that you had to wonder how they could read it. But Steve walked in with a single blank sheet and a friend who was a senior student and who had an ‘A’ in logic. Steve bent down and placed that single, blank sheet of paper on the floor next to his desk. His expert friend stood on the paper.</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The professor noticed the extra body in the room and asked what he was doing. Steve piped up, “You said we could bring in whatever we could fit on a single piece of paper for help on this test, well, this is my help and he can fit on the paper!” He had followed the instructions to the letter and was the only student in that class to score an ‘A’ since he had his expert friend standing alongside him. The Holy Spirit is like that friend, standing alongside us, supporting us, and guiding us.</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Adapted from an unknown source, Staff, <a href="http://www.sermons.com/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; font-size: 11px; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">www.Sermons.com</a></span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I'm Not Allowed to Cross the Street</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">A little boy was riding his tricycle furiously around the block, over and over again. Finally a policeman stopped and asked him why he was going around and around. The boy said that he was running away from home. The policeman asked why he kept going around the block. The boy responded, "Because my mom said that I'm not allowed to cross the street."</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The point is clear--obedience will keep you close to those you love.</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Michael Green, "Illustrations for Biblical Preaching".</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">____________________________</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Martin Luther on Love for Christ</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">As usual, Martin Luther said it so well: "But, as Christ said earlier, it all depends on whether you feel and find that you love this man . For if you truly believe this, then love will be there, and your heart will be moved to say: 'Christ, my dear Lord, has done so much for me. He has reconciled the Father to me and shed his blood for me. He has fought and defeated my death and given me all his possessions. Should I not require this love? Should I not thank, praise, honor and serve him with my life and my goods? If not, I should be ashamed that I am a human being.'</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">"Therefore Christ declares: 'Sincere love for me is part of a true Christian.'" When you believe in Christ, when you live with him, love and good works just naturally flow. They come from living together with Christ; his good influence just rubs off on us.</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Mark Ellingsen, "Preparation and Manifestation," CSS Publishing Company</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">_______________________</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Playing God</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Mee Spousler of the Mount Hope United Methodist Church, in Aston, PA., tells how she was trying to put her three-year-old son to bed for a nap.</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">When she was unsuccessful, she put him in her bed and laid down with him to encourage him to rest. She fell asleep, but he didn't. When she woke up, she saw him sitting on a chair at the end of the bed, and asked, "Luke, what are you doing?"</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">"I'm playing God," he replied.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">"Playing God?" she asked.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">"Yes," he said. "I'm watching over you while you sleep."</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Children understand more than we do sometimes. God IS watching over us. Jesus gave that promise here in talking about the coming of the Holy Spirit. Not only will God watch over us but through the presence and reminder of the Holy Spirit, we will be reminded of what it means to "Love Jesus and keep his commands." And God will help us to create the environment of love, grace, faith and security that we need for our homes today. Our challenge is to listen to the Holy Spirit and to trust Christ.</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Billy D. Strayhorn, "If You Love Me…."</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Responding to the Spirit, Responding in the Spirit</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">When Jimmy Carter was running for President of the United States, one of the more vivid moments in the campaign passed by almost unnoticed. One Sunday morning, candidate Carter had been worshiping at the Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia. When the service was over, he exited the church into the swarm of press encamped on the church's front lawn. Cameras whirring, video lights glaring, microphones thrust forward, the media mavens moved in for interviews, pushing themselves to think of clever questions to ask a presidential candidate on the way out of a Southern Baptist Church -- "Did you like the sermon?" "Did you enjoy the choir this morning?" "Do you plan to remain a Baptist in Washington?" -- on and on the banal questions spewed.<br>
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Suddenly, a reporter, probably in a stroke of luck, shouted out a question that genuinely mattered: "Mr. Carter, suppose when you are President, you get into a situation where the laws of the United States are in conflict with what you understand to be the will of God. Which will you follow, the laws of the state or the commandments of God?"<br>
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Carter stopped, looked up, and blinked into the bright Georgia sun, obviously turning the question over in his mind. Then, perhaps still "in the Spirit on the Lord's Day," perhaps with the Spirit gently whispering the lyrics of the gospel into his ears, he turned toward the reporter and replied…</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Additional illustrations, sermons, and commentary for each week of the year can be accessed at <a href="http://www.sermons.com/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; font-size: 11px; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">www.Sermons.com</a>.</span></div>
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